It's rare nowadays to attend an event that doesn’t have some kind of mobile app. Mobile event apps aid the attendee journey by providing content, schedules, speaker info, attendee info, maps, and more. Mobile event apps are also a way for attendees to connect with each other through in-app messaging and networking opportunities and better connect with the event through things like gamification. In other words, an event app truly elevates the attendee experience. There is just one problem… What if no one downloads your app?
While you can’t force an attendee to download your app, there are things you can do to ensure more attendees download your app than don't.
1. Promote your app long before the event starts
The promotion of an event begins months ahead of time. This is a great opportunity to also start promoting your event app. Let attendees know your event app is available for download from the App Store, Google Play, or via a web browser. Your attendees certainly won’t download your app if they don’t know about it. Continue promoting your app throughout the event. Mention it during the open keynote, you could even provide a quick demonstration of how to download and use the app.
2. Make it so that attendees need your event app
The more your attendees feel like they need your event app, the more likely they’ll be to download it. Give attendees a sense of #FOMO by letting them know that the app is the only place they will be able to find event-related information.
You can also promote that your event is green, and there will be no paper schedules, maps, or hand-outs available – instead, all of that will be stored exclusively on the app. By making it known that any valuable information is available only on the app, your attendees will truly feel like they need your event app to be successful at the event.
3. Incentivize event app usage
Bring out the competitive nature in your attendees while also sparking interest in downloading your event app with the use of gamification. Gamification allows attendees to gain points for completing certain actions, such as bookmarking a document, updating their profile, posting photos, checking into sessions or scanning exhibitor booth barcodes. Not only is gamification a fun way to get attendees involved in your event, but it’s also a great way to get attendees to download your app so they don’t miss out on the fun.
To further add incentive to download the app, make it so that the attendee with the most points at the end of the event wins a prize! People are driven by incentives, so offering a tangible reward for participating in the mobile app game will increase downloads.
Improve event app adoption & downloads
You’ve put hours of work into creating and delivering an amazing event app to complement your event… don’t let attendees miss out on it! While you can’t force people to download your app, you can take the proper steps to ensure people actually want to download it. Promote your app, show attendees why they need it and add incentives to downloading your app so that there is a better chance your app will be highly adopted.
